New on this forum; Laser newby as well.

thieuster

Active Member
Good afternoon. Well, in my part of the world at least (Europe).

As per title: My name is Menno. My English is far from perfect, so please bear with me.

I am new on this forum and a Laser newby as well. To be more correct: my son sails a Radial since the beginning of this season (started in March). I sail wooden keelboats and do some off-shore sailing with friends. And when I come to think about it: all those boats are designed in The Netherlands, so I suppose not commonly known around the world.

After sailing a hand-me-down Optimist 'till he was 14, he changed to a Dutch design dinghy called a Splash. Again, a third/fourth/fifth-owner boat. In that boat, he won the National competition. So when he switched to the Laser, we bought him a new one: # 212xxx; fresh from the box, so to speak.

After rigging the boat according to the manual, I quickly started changing a lot of things, all within the class rules. APS, Rooster Sailing and UK's South East Sailboats provided me with tons of (YouTube) info. All lines are spliced now - and have brighter colours (easier to see-and-grab on the water), I mounted the clam cleat with the becket for the elastic cord at the back and bigger blocks on the small plate behind the mast.

So far, things are pretty positive. After a slow Spring (due to school commitments), we decided to attend as many venues as possible. So we went to the Warnemuender Woche in Rostock (Germany, near the Polish border), the UK Laser Open in Plymouth and -unexpectedly- he was allowed to participate at the Under 19 World Championship in Kiel. With less than 6 months Laser sailing under the hull of his boat, he managed well, I think (#2 and #5 in two of the eleven WC event's races).

There are however a few questions left...

First, we use a 2013 Honda CR-V with a trailer to travel to the venues. Hard to believe when you're in the US or Can: Honda's are very thin on the ground here in Europe! I am looking for a pic etc of a Honda with a Laser on the roof bars! And / or your experiences! Sometimes it is more convenient to haul the boat on the roof instead of towing it. The roof bars on a Honda are pretty close together, I was wondering if there's a solution to prevent a 'seesaw effect' when driving...

Second question - and it is planning a long way ahead: Next year's the Under19 World Championship is in Kingston, Canada. Despite the travel distance and the costs, we (my wife and myself) are not negative about a trip + holiday to Canada, including the WC. We haven't informed my son yet. It's what you call 'pencilled in' and not in writing yet. In the meantime, I would like to know as much as possible about Kingston, boat charter, do's and don'ts, tips etc.

Here one pic, taken by another father, during the first day of 'Kiel' before the first signal of the day.

IMGP3106_.jpg

Menno
 
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My English is far from perfect, so please bear with me.
Those who apologize for their foreign-language skills usually make the fewest mistakes ;)

Sometimes it is more convenient to haul the boat on the roof instead of towing it. The roof bars on a Honda are pretty close together, I was wondering if there's a solution to prevent a 'seesaw effect' when driving...
Not sometimes. Always. A trailer is a pain.
I transport my Laser on top of a Peugeot 5008 which also has a very short standard rack base. Just tie the boat to both the front and the back of the car (towing loop & trailer hitch) if it feels too unstable vertically. Also, if you can take your trolley apart, do it and carry it inside the car.

I see you're from Loosdrecht of all places... I've never been there myself, but many of my old sailing friends used to go there for Europe Dinghy training and the Easter regatta in the 1980s. A legendary location :D

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Loosdrecht... yes that's nice. We live 45 mins from these lakes. In Dutch terms quite far away; in US and CAN terms closeby, I suppose. The village is legendary for its lakes (a few lakes in a row, simply called the 1st, 2nd etc), infamous for the wind shifts, famous the jazz festival and finally the birthplace of a small car brand called Donkervoort (google that).

There are three sailing clubs. One with the title 'Royal' in its name and the other two are more modest (...) ones; we're a member of one of the modest clubs. Must say that all clubs work together without a problem. No animosity.

Your idea about the towing loop is a good one. But not on a Honda! I never realised that Hondas don't have a towing loop adapter in the bumper. I need to get under the car and find for a loop. Now I must figure out a way to run the line upwards without destroying the paint on the bumper.;)

Here's a thought: I was thinking of adapting a bike rack that's normally fitted onto the trailer hitch. I am thinking of a reversed A-shaped frame: two metal tubes centered on the hitch, going upwards with a horizontal bar on top, On that bar a Thule bar at the same hight as the standard roof rack. That way the boat's hull is supported on three places.

*I love thinking and trying this sort of things*

Menno
 
Bike-rack style supports have been successfully used (I think there is talk about them in the Sunfish forum), but a three-point system is geometrically problematic - it may be actually harder on the hull. (I remember this was explained in a Dutch book from the 1970s whose Swedish name translates to "This Is Sailing". Has an FD on the cover...)

I recall that our Europe Dinghy coaches at the time said they chose Loosdrecht for its "weirdness factor" ;)

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Turned out the book I mentioned was actually called "Tune for Faster Sailing", by Imhoff and Pranger. No idea what the original Dutch title may have been, though.

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So did I - it's "Dit is snel zeilen: De optimaal getrimde boot"!

Anyway, their argument was that having more than two supports exerts more variable stresses, which is tougher for the hull. I think they only talked about trailers, though, so it's not necessarily directly applicable to cartopping.

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